[Maximal pulmonary ventilation and the forced expiratory rate under hyperbarism].

In divers, breathing with artificial gas mixtures of 14.3 g/l density, the maximal lung ventilation and the maximal velocity of forced expiration decrease along with an increase in the mixture density. The decrease of these parameters is unrelated to nitrogen anesthesia or exhaustion of respiratory muscles. The findings suggest that the value of both these parameters is only limited by expiratory dynamic compression of respiratory pathways.